A One Sided Kind Of Affair
by Easterly Winds
Summary: [Gelphie] I advise you find something less noisy to do before I resort to drastic measures. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

"Miss Galinda!" Elphaba snapped. Galinda looked up from her sorcery essay, marked with a large FAIL in red ink, and frowned at Elphaba.

"Miss Elphaba, please, I am trying to find out what the matter was with my essay." Galinda returned to perusing her essay and popping her gum loudly like a cow. Elphaba dug her fingernails into her thighs to keep herself from strangling the stupid girl there and then.

"Please," Elphaba put a specific strain on the word, "Miss Galinda, I cannot concentrate with you chomping on that idiotic gum of yours. If you would kindly toss it out, I will not have to stick it where the sun does not shine!" Galinda blushed furiously and jumped to her high-heeled feet.

"Miss Elphaba, really! There is no reason for you to address me in such an unladylike manner!"

"Then spit out that infernal gum!" Elphaba's voice had gone screechy and she balled her hands into fists. She stood up, towering over Galinda by a good twelve inches. Galinda, for her part, did not run screaming.

"Miss Elphaba," Galinda's almost unsteady voice was nearly a whisper compared to the shrieking they had done earlier. "If you will excuse me." She clicked away on her pointed heels and Elphaba tried to imagine she had not seen Galinda bury her face in her hands as she ran to the bathroom.

"I'll never hear the end of this now."

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"Ohh, Miss Galinda," Pfannee crooned, stroking Galinda's hair back gently. "Don't cry, dearest. That Miss Artichoke has nothing to do with you."

Shenshen entered the room in a towel, whistling, when Pfannee motioned to her to come to Galinda. Shenshen made a crude "G" with her hands, indicating "greenbean" as they called her. Pfannee nodded and grinned evilly.

"What's wrong with poor Miss Galinda?" Shenshen called from across the room. Galinda looked up, her face tearstained.

"Miss E-Elphaba." Galinda stated simply. Shenshen made a soft "Awh" noise in the back of her throat and walked forward, reaching out a slightly damp hand stroking the side of Galinda's face. Galinda unconsciously leaned into the touch, sniffling and closing her eyes.

"_L E S B I A N._" Shenshen mouthed to Pfannee, whose eyes opened a little wider and glanced down at her own hand which was still resting on Galinda's back. She carefully picked it up as Galinda opened her eyes and smiled reassuringly.

"We'll put spiders in her soup, Miss Galinda. She shan't bother you again any time soon." Pfannee promised, kissing the air above Galinda's cheeks by way of farewell.

"Yes, indeed, she'll learn her lesson." Shenshen kissed Galinda's cheeks the same way, smiling at Pfannee over Galinda's shoulders.

"Learn her lesson." Pfannee repeated.

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Galinda returned to the room a good deal calmer, quickly spitting out her gum into her handkerchief, and opened the door carefully.

"Miss Galinda." Elphaba's tone was icy and unrepentant. Galinda bristled.

"Miss Elphaba." Galinda continued through the room to her bed and flopped down, picking up her essay again. Her second failing essay. She thumbed through the pages, not seeing a single correction mark. The only thing Madame Lettins had written on her paper was the FAIL. Galinda fought back more tears as she grumbled to herself, trying to decipher her own curly handwriting.

"Miss Galinda, the muttering is almost worse than the gum-popping. Unfortunately, I cannot stick words where the sun doesn't shine, so I advise you find something less noisy to do before I resort to drastic measures." Elphaba didn't so much as look at Galinda as she delivered her speech. Galinda's eyes filled with the tears she had been hiding and she bolted up, whipping Elphaba's chair around and grabbing the armrests, getting into Elphaba's face.

"Miss Elphaba," Galinda almost spat on Elphaba's face, so great was her fury, "I am currently trying to _save my grade_ in Sorcery, so if YOU don't mind, I'd like to continue that! If you can offer any help, be SURE to comment. If not, shut your uneducated verdant mouth!" Galinda stormed away, practically punching holes in the carpet with her heels.

Down the hall three doors, Shenshen was snickering to Pfannee, "Sounds like those two are at it again."

"Miss Galinda. . . " For once in her life, Elphaba had no thorny comeback. Instead, she turned her chair around and buried herself deep into the work she had been trying to do. She found that with Galinda not talking or popping gum, she couldn't concentrate. Swearing under her breath, she packed up her papers and pulled out a book.

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"You didn't mean what you said about the spiders, did you?" Galinda asked meekly of Shenshen and Pfannee at the next lunch table meeting. They looked at each other slyly, then shrugged simultaneously. "Oh no, you two! She's going to kill me." Elphaba, speak of the devil, was walking through the lunch line, ignoring the rude comments passed her way, and making her way to an empty table that, as soon as she sat, would stay empty the rest of the day.

Elphaba lifted a spoonful of soup, staring at it contemplatively. She had seen something other than anger in Galinda's eyes. Had it been a spark of desire? She could recall that same spark in Melena's eyes when she looked at Turtle Heart. Galinda was not a Kumbric witch, surely there could be no desire in her eyes for Elphaba. And Elphaba certainly didn't desire _that _pink poufy thing. A small black spider crawled stickily out of her tomato soup and up the handle of her spoon. She shrieked in surprise and dumped the bowl of soup in the nearest garbage can. A plague of spiders emerged from the bowl, crawling and swarming. Elphaba darted out of the lunchroom followed by many laughing eyes.

"Oh. . . " Galinda said under her breath, staring after Elphaba. She turned back to Shenshen and Pfannee and blinked a couple times. "Damn."


	2. Chapter 2

"You sent your bubbly idiot friends after me." Elphaba's tone was accusatory and cold. Did Galinda hear a small amount of hurt in her voice?

"You made me cry Miss Elphaba. I do believe that a few spiders does not equal hours of puffy eyes. It took me a very long time to remove the redness, thank you very much." Galinda knew her argument was a limp one, but she would be damned if she was going to let Elphaba win. "I also believe you owe me an apology."

"What?" Elphaba's mouth opened for a few seconds before she realized and shut it. "_I_ owe _you_ an apology? I didn't see spiders crawling around in your lunch today."

"Miss El--"

"Also, Miss Galinda," Elphaba interrupted. "I don't see people pointing at you, nor do they try to paint you gold at Lurlinemas, nor do they ridicule you, nor do they do anything but praise you. So I advise you shut your uneducated _fuchsia _mouth before I am forced to shut it for you." Elphaba stood, one book clutched tightly in her hand. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to return this to the library."

Galinda couldn't stop Elphaba before she darted out the door and down the hallway. Galinda frowned, humphed, and flopped down on her bed, staring out into the moonlit sky.

"Wait a minute, the library closes at dusk!" Galinda jumped up and dashed out the door, quite forgetting all but Elphaba.

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"Miss Elphaba!" Galinda called. It was suddenly dark and she stared wildly at the sky. A heavy rain-cloud had obscured the moon and looked about ready to drop its fury onto an unprotected Shiz. Galinda searched high and low for Elphaba, up in trees where she called to the girl, down in culverts where she was almost tempted to climb in and see if Elphaba was there.

The skies opened up on Galinda, pouring out sheets of cold rain and breaking the silence with an occasional thunder crack. Galinda's hair was now plastered to her face, her curls becoming straight curtains of hair under the torrent. Her dress soaked through and clung too, making her shiver with the added cold. She only hoped Elphaba had managed to find cover, Lurline only knew what it would do to the dyes in her heavy dresses.

A shout of pain rent the air and for a second, Galinda thought it was only a thunderclap. Then a real thunderclap followed and she jumped toward the origin of the voice, hoping shelter was there.

"Holy Shiz! Elphaba!" Galinda whipped out her handkerchief, kept dry by the many soaked layers above it, and began patting at Elphaba's skin which seemed to sizzle and burn every time the rainwater touched it. Elphaba looked up with wild eyes at Galinda who, when wet, looked like a very sodden poodle.

"You should get out of the rain, my sweet." Elphaba commented, noting that Galinda was shivering furiously. "You'll catch your death of cold." Galinda snorted in a most unladylike fashion and continued dabbing at Elphaba's skin.

"You'll, oh dear, what _is_ happening to you? You'll burn up." Galinda replied, vexed. Elphaba laughed lightly, taking her hand away from Galinda and burying it in her dress pockets, miraculously dry despite the furious cloudburst.

"Miss Galinda, please." Galinda seemed a little deflated by the sudden return of "Miss" as opposed to the earlier ease of "my sweet." "I can take care of myself." Elphaba stood and bowed her head against the onslaught, dashing madly for the door to the dormitory. Galinda stood stock still, wondering what kind of exchange had just occurred.

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"Oh!" Elphaba gritted her teeth and hissed out an expletive. Each rain drop brought forth a bubbling pain paired with a blister. She could only imagine how soaked and frightened Galinda must look, probably still standing in that idiotic slumpy pose she had adopted.

"It's locked! Shit! Shitshitshitshit!" Elphaba pounded fiercely on the door, hoping against hope that a kind girl such as Miss Milla would come along and open the door for her. If not, she could always invent a lie.

"Miss Elphaba?" It was Milla. Elphaba breathed a heavy sigh of relief accompanied by a furious shivering she had not meant to let loose.

"Please, Miss Milla, I need to get in." Milla opened the door wider and let Elphaba in and she dashed upstairs to her own room, confusing Milla to no end.

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Galinda decided she ought to get inside before she really did catch her death of cold. She too made a run for the door, though she did not swear quite as explosively when she found it was locked. Milla opened the door again, wondering if it was indeed Galinda as she had suspected. Yes, her suspicions were confirmed as she opened the door and discovered a soppy poodle trembling on the threshold.

"Oh Miss Galinda, Miss Elphaba should be up in your room, she was running off that way I think." Milla pointed upstairs and Galinda thanked her and dashed upstairs. Milla looked out into the storm's fury and hoped that no more drenched roommate pairs would come dripping into the parlor, for they were making a muddy mess of the fine Gillikinese carpet.


	3. Chapter 3

Galinda pushed open the door, sniffling back a running nose. Elphaba dove beneath the covers of her bed and hid. Galinda frowned at the pile of covers.

"Miss Elphaba, please." Galinda still wished for the informality of the rainstorm, but propriety really demanded that she address her as Miss. "I am not going to chew off your legs, you may come out."

"Don't scream." Galinda would have laughed if not for the timbre of Elphaba's voice. She agreed that she would not scream and Elphaba climbed out from beneath the covers. She was half-naked, wearing only a pair of underwear and a small bra. Her skin was speckled with red spots above her neck and generally rash-colored where Galinda could imagine she was covered with the wet dress material.

"Oz!" Galinda let out a whisper. It was not until she noticed Elphaba blushing that she realized her eyes had been transfixed on Elphaba's lean body. She blushed furiously and turned away, preparing to shake out her hair.

"Don't shake!" Elphaba warned her. Galinda sighed and grabbed the nearest blanket, from under her own bed, and wrung out her hair.

"Goodness, Miss Elphaba really. What has gotten into you? And onto you?" Galinda was almost talking to herself, but she was speaking just a decibel too loud for the words to be anything but conversational.

"Water, water." Elphaba muttered back, smoothing something over her skin and making it glisten pearlescent emerald in the light. Galinda longed to touch the skin that glowed in front of her. Pfannee and Shenshen had giggled and suggested that _dear_ Miss Elphaba had skin like a snake: soft and glimmering to look at, but rough when touched. Galinda decided that nothing that looked that soft and inviting could be scaly.

_'Wait a minute...'_ Galinda's subconscious waited a minute. _'Inviting? Since when is the greenbean inviting?'_ As she mulled this, she became aware that she was, yet again, staring in ernest at Elphaba's smooth skin.

"Miss Galinda?" Elphaba's tone, for the second time that day she reminded herself, was soft and curious. She would have to stop asking these questions and being soft and nice. She had a reputation to uphold. But now Galinda was talking again.

"I'm sorry, Elphie, er--!" Galinda jerked and spun on the spot, dropping the wet blanket and coughing hastily into her hand. "M-Miss Elphaba." Elphaba sighed inaudibly, her thin chest rising and falling dramatically despite the lack of noise.

"Go to bed, Miss Galinda. And take off those freezing clothes, you really will catch cold." Elphaba slipped into a very thin nightgown, wincing as it made its slow progress down her body and finally settled onto her shoulders.

"Fresh dreams, Miss Elphaba." Galinda pulled off her sopping dress and slip and grabbed a warm nightgown from her closet, yanking it over her head and smiling to herself, feeling that she had won a small personal triumph that day, even if Elphaba didn't realize it yet.


	4. Chapter 4

Galinda blinked her eyes open, rolling over in the bed with a slight headache, and groaned a muffled "Oz" into her pillow. Elphaba was already up, tending to the fire as was her unofficial duty, and cocked an eyebrow at Galinda.

"Feeling a little warm, Miss Galinda? Perhaps that galavanting in the storm last night made you a bit sick." The tone of Elphaba's voice insinuated that she did not feel guilty for Galinda's choice.

After several repeated "Oz"es, Galinda turned over and faced Elphaba. Elphaba flinched purposefully, cackling a little as she did so.

"Red nose, red eyes, red face. Watch yourself, Galinda," For a reason unknown to Galinda, her heart soared when Elphaba dropped the honorific. "You'll be the new colored girl in Shiz if you don't stop now. Though," as Elphaba continued to talk, jabbering on like a simple gossip, Galinda stopped listening completely, devoting her attentions to the burning heat filling her face.

"Ozma!" Shenshen called through the door, barging in as she was wont to do. Elphaba spun around, breaking off in the middle of a sentence about red and green dynamics and Galinda looked wildly up. Shenshen frowned at the girl and repeated herself, emphasizing the syllables. "Oz-ma. Galinda!" Galinda finally found her tongue.

"Regent. Shenshen, I think I'm sick." Shenshen rolled her eyes.

"I could tell by the peculiar shade you're turning." Pfannee entered the room after Shenshen, frowning at Galinda.

"You look like a tomato!" Pfannee giggled. Galinda stared down at her blankets. Pfannee sauntered nearer to Galinda, feeling her face with cold hands. Galinda jumped and squealed.

"Cold!" Elphaba rolled her eyes and neared the bed.

"Leave, Miss Pfannee. Miss Shenshen. I can handle Miss Galinda." Elphaba pointed witheringly toward the door. As an afterthought, she amended herself. "As long as you two don't put spiders in her chicken noodle soup." Pfannee and Shenshen, unabashed though Elphaba had implied their guilt, rose and walked to the door.

"Goodbye Galinda, get well soon." Pfannee added when Elphaba had almost shut the door. Elphaba looked back to Galinda and saw she had buried her overheated face in her covers. Remembering the last time she had cared for a fragile thing like Galinda, Elphaba suddenly felt a turning in her stomach. She wasn't sure about this anymore.

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Elphaba flopped into the chair at her desk. She had braved the bathroom taps and gotten Galinda a glass of cold water, sat her up and wiped the sweat from her neck (a difficult task to concentrate on for some reason), even hummed a few bars from Lurlinemas carols so she could sleep. She was now buried into a pillow and breathing gently, occasionally twisting to get to a less sweat-soaked place.

"Miss Galinda?" Elphaba whispered. No response. "Galinda!" No response. "Ga lin da!" Nothing. Elphaba snuck out of the room carefully, tiptoeing down the hall as if afraid she might wake a monster. She tiptoed all the way down the hall to the parlor, then broke into a run. If she just went quickly enough.

"Doctor Nikidik!" Elphaba panted. He looked up from his papers and frowned. "I'm sorry I'm late!"

"You're an hour late, young lady. This class has been dismissed." He turned back to the papers. Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms.

"I was caring for a sick roommate and I was unable to attend, may I please have today's homework, _sir_." Elphaba's emphasis on "sir" was just barely subordinate, but Doctor Nikidik seemed too covered in work to notice and merely held out a sheet of paper with several diagrams on it.

"Study for tomorrow's test." Elphaba dashed out, heading as fast as she could to the next building to explain her situation. After collecting all the homework she would miss (and more than a few disapproving glances) Elphaba returned to the room, clomping her boots loudly and trying to straighten her hair.

"Elphaba!" Galinda shrieked when Elphaba had entered. "You left for hours and hours!" Elphaba calmly checked the clock.

"I shudder at the thought of your Arithmetic grade, Miss Galinda. I have been gone precisely twenty-six minutes dashing about so that I could tend to you today." Elphaba dropped the sheaf of papers on her desk and fell into the chair again. "I hope you're happy." Galinda bit her lip indecisively.

"Yes, thank you Miss Elphaba." Galinda sat primly on the edge of the bed. "And Miss Elphaba?" Elphaba looked up, wondering what other thanks Galinda could have.

"Yes, Miss Galinda?"

"I'm sweating all over!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Miss Galinda, honestly, I don't think that's entirely proper!" Elphaba sputtered, unsure how to proceed. Galinda put on a hurt puppy face, enticing Elphaba to rub her down with a towel. The mental image of this flashed briefly in Elphaba's mind and sent her reeling out of the chair. Unfortunately, as the chair was against the wall, the only place to go was forward. Forward she went, straight to the bed and into Galinda's trap.

"Shall I take off my nightgown?" Galinda offered, dropping one part of the gown over her shoulder and exposing the soft skin there. Elphaba gulped back the lump in her throat and shrugged.

"I haven't even started yet, Miss Galinda, we can tackle that barrier when it comes up." Elphaba lifted Galinda's mop of sweaty curls and started dabbing at the collection of droplets on her neck. Galinda leaned back slightly and lowered her head completely to her chest, allowing more of the expanse of creamy porcelain to show through her nightgown.

"Alright Miss Galinda, if I really must wipe down your sweaty body, so be it. Shimmy out of that disgusting nightgown and lay down." Galinda felt a hot twist of sick anticipation curl in her stomach. This was it, now or never. As she slowly began to pull off the nightgown--Elphaba was right, it was massively disgusting--she paused, turning to look at Elphaba's eyes.

"Miss Galinda?" Elphaba frowned as Galinda's eyes flicked back and forth between her own, perhaps trying to detect something? With a deep sigh, Galinda turned back around and shucked off her nightgown. She laid down on the bed and rest her head against her crossed wrists.

"I don't see why in Oz you insist on wearing those blasted corsets, Galinda." Elphaba swept the towel down Galinda's back, just to the dip where her buttocks began. Galinda's flesh tingled and stung a little, making her wonder the exact reason for that. "You really aren't heavy as you say you are. I'd bet you weigh about ninety-five pounds." Elphaba gave Galinda's back another good pull from the towel.

"Elphaba, really, you haven't even seen the front of me. You're going to go back on what you said just now when I turn over." Galinda was sleepy again, enjoying the roughly gentle--Galinda's subconscious stopped once again. _'That didn't make sense. Roughly gentle?'_--massage from Elphaba. Elphaba carefully avoided Galinda's feet, knowing that any girl as bubbly as Galinda would be incredibly ticklish.

"Right then, amaze me with your body fat content and turn over." Galinda frowned and flipped herself over.

"Really Miss Elphaba, that was rude." Elphaba shrugged and started wiping away the sweat that had collected in the dip between Galinda's collarbones. After both of Galinda's arms were thoroughly clean, Elphaba began on the stomach. She pointedly avoided what Galinda often referred to as her "ahem that's embarrassing, Avaric." Galinda willed more sweat to collect between her breasts, wondering how far Elphaba really would go.

Far enough, it seemed. Though she wouldn't touch anything above Galinda's knees and below her belt, Elphaba carefully wiped away the drips that accumulated on Galinda's breasts. Galinda let out an involuntary whimper and arched her back, leaning up to feel the touch again.

"M-Miss Galinda, this is incredibly inappropriate. Please!" Elphaba turned away from Galinda and dropped the towel. Galinda sat up and, blushing, pulled on the side of Elphaba's face.

"Elphaba," Galinda whispered. Elphaba blinked dumbly, a deer in the headlights, as Galinda leaned forward and kissed her.

_'This is not happening. Galinda is not kissing me. I'm not holding a naked girl in my arms and she is NOT trying to stick her tongue into my mouth.'_ Elphaba gasped for air, the sudden movement allowing Galinda to push her little pink tongue through Elphaba's lips. Elphaba, finding sense in her mind and strength in her leaden limbs, pushed Galinda away.

"Miss Galinda!" Elphaba panted, darting to her side of the room and collapsing on the bed. "That was highly inappropriate and unwanted and _surprising._" Galinda sat back on the bed, grasping a pillow to her body and letting tears fill her eyes.

"You don't love me." Galinda's voice was suddenly stiff. Elphaba's jaw dropped open.

"When did you ever get the impression that I _did_?!" Elphaba asked incredulously. "When I made you cry yesterday? When I told you I'd stick your gum up your as--"

"Miss _Elphaba_!" Galinda cried. "You called me your sweet. During the storm." Elphaba sighed and buried her head in her hands.

"I don't love you."


	6. Chapter 6

"I knew it!" Galinda shrieked. Elphaba sighed again.

"You can't love me, Galinda! We've been roommates for four months and all you've ever done is hate me." Elphaba was trying to sort things out in her mind, trying to make sense of the nonsensical way that Galinda was acting.

"I do love you. I've loved you since the first day. I just," Galinda searched around for a way to defend herself. "I just didn't know it yet. Please say you love me."

"I don't love you." Elphaba repeated, her voice strong and harsh to keep it from shaking. "And you can't love me."

"Why?!" Galinda bolted up, all ideas of fever and kissing gone. All that was left in her mind was the hot bolt of fury. "I can't love you because you're a girl?"

"Because I'm not allowed to have beautiful things!" Elphaba exploded. Galinda stood in shock, her arms limp at her sides, and stared at Elphaba. She repeated herself. "I'm not allowed. Not allowed to have beautiful things."

In future years, and Galinda would live a long life, she would never forget the sound of Elphaba's voice. Defeated, broken, childlike and frightened. It was as though Elphaba thought Galinda to be a vase made of spun glass, untouchable, only to be admired.

"Get back into bed, Galinda. You're going to kill yourself."

Many weeks later, after the failed Wizard excursion, Glinda was allowed two more kisses, both chaste and tasting much like the peppermint extract Elphaba had cleaned her teeth with that morning.

"Hold out, my sweet." With a pang, Glinda recalled the rainstorm.


End file.
